The Inward Journey
Sumedha
Aurangabad (CSN)
Hari Aum!
Every time I come back from SISS, I want to be back there more than ever. To me, it feels like being at a hermitage where I nestle peacefully, not to rest, but to ruminate, to re-energise and prepare myself for the next leap.
May 2024 retreat marked two very auspicious dates. ‘Baisaakh Shukl Panchami’ and ‘Baisaakh Shukl Sashti’ being Sree Adi Guru Shankaracharya ji’s and Gurudev’s janm tithis respectively. These are divine occasions for us seekers to offer our salutations.
This time the retreat encompassed overall intense learning from the vast scriptures in a very simple way.
‘Know what you have’ does not imply to my worldly legacies. What matters is what I have within and what I am doing with it now. The past is dead, and the future is unborn. The present alone is the only time I have, where I can work on myself to gain and gather. Whatever I will target, only that I can gather. Therefore, I need to be vigil. I need to be working with an attitude of service, otherwise it will only intensify my ego. A purposeful, deliberate and vigorous enthusiasm is required by the seeker to catch hold of the worthwhile opportunities as soon as one recognises them.
Being vigilant towards the thoughts is important. And to guide our thoughts in the right direction, we need to borrow the higher divine thoughts of our great Rishis and Saints. Japa, meditation and subjective thinking aids us to rise above the negative thoughts. My tendencies, my own innate vasanas drag me into the world of mind and body. Therefore, while performing any action, I have to hold on to inner Aum - the Form-Sound representation of Supreme Reality.
The six spheres of total personality development being home, school, social, cultural, religious and spiritual (in that order), the individual grows and evolves through each phase, to reach his spiritual goal and beyond, by righteous and virtuous thought and deed.
Who am I? This question sets the mind pondering.
I understand that though I am beyond the five sheaths (namely physical, vital, mental, intellectual and blissful) as long as I am expressing through this body, I need to correctly know the characteristics of these sheaths and put an effort to use them for my own evolution. Keeping the body fit, remaining active, thinking positive, having strong true convictions, and then transcending the inherent vasanas by realising actually who am I, is the goal. The Scriptures give us wonderful examples to understand who am I and what is my destination.
The Divine Chariot in the Text Sreemad Bhagawad Geeta, gives us a beautiful comparison to understand the same. The reins always have to be in the hands of The Divine, not the ego. Only then, the senses will radiate Divinity. Mind will be established in Sattva and life will be lived with devotion and dedication to reach the horizon (Self-Realisation आत्म-साक्षात्कार)
Knowledge is the most important tool for self-improvement.
Supreme knowledge or absolute knowledge(परा विद्या) is reached by using the lower knowledge(अपरा विद्या). And then both have to be dropped to reach beyond. By the grace of Sree Guru Parampara, there is so much knowledge available in the form of sacred Texts. The Shrutis (The great Veda-s, Vedaang-s, Upaveda-s), The Smritis, The Puranas, Dharmashastra, Bhashyas and so on…. the treasure is unending! The Sadgurus hold the key to the vault - seek Them to seek Them.
What is karm? What is Maya?
To start with, understanding the basics is most important. Running away has never been the solution. Because, the more we come to know, we understand that how much we don’t know. And this not knowing is also knowledge. If the seeking is true, the answers are bound to come.
The two-day retreat had so much vastness and abundance of learnings that my seeking felt very meagre in comparison. Along with the scriptural teachings, there was so much more to observe and absorb.
Eagerly waiting for the next dose of spiritual vaccination for protection from the worldly virus.
Hari Aum!